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Olympic talent search coming to UBC Okanagan

RBC Training Ground, a free program for athletes aged 14-25, will be held at UBCO on April 10
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Vernon freestyle skier Elena Gaskell is an RBC Olympian. The Canadian Olympic Committeeѻýs official talent search ѻý RBC Training Ground ѻý is coming to UBC Okanagan in Kelowna on Sunday, April 10, 2022. (Submitted photo)

The Canadian Olympic Committee is bringing its official talent search to the Okanagan, and young athletes are invited to attend for the chance to enter Canadaѻýs Olympic pipeline.

RBC Training Ground is a free program that will take place at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO) gymnasium on Sunday, April 10.

Athletes aged 14 to 25 can take part. At the training session, theyѻýll undergo strength, speed, power and endurance tests.

Vernon freestyle and big air skier Elena Gaskell is an RBC Olympian, and while she herself didnѻýt rise to the top of her sport through Training Ground, she knows many athletes who found their sport during the program and went on to great success.

ѻýRBC Training Ground is just a great opportunity for young athletic teens, youth as well, to get their chance to find a sport or opportunity that they can thrive in,ѻý she said.

She names her friend Marion Thénault as an RBC Training Ground success story. After the program introduced her to the sport of aerial skiing, Thénault went on to win a bronze medal at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Gaskell went to those same Olympic Games, though she was sidelined by a knee injury the day before she was to compete. She says she just recently had surgey and is currently in rehab and recovery mode.

ѻýAnytime Iѻým injured I often think about how much I miss my sport and it just makes me want to do it more once Iѻým able to.ѻý

Gaskell started skiing when she was four years old and made the Canadian national team when she was 15, competing internationally ever since. She says she was lucky to find her sport so early and hopes other young athletes can find the sport theyѻýre most passionate about through Training Ground.

ѻýItѻýs just a good opportunity for anybody whoѻýs interested in sport and doesnѻýt quite know where it could lead them.ѻý

Athletes who impress at Training Ground will be invited to an extra round of assessment. From there, they can earn grants and resources to further themselves in sport.

Now in its seventh year, thousands of athletes take part in RBC Training Ground each year. According to the programѻýs website, more than 10,000 athletes have been tested by the program in its first six years.

To date, Training Ground has unearthed and funded seven Canadian Olympic medalists and put hundreds more athletes into Canadaѻýs Olympic pipeline.

For more information or to register, visit .

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Brendan Shykora
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Brendan Shykora

About the Author: Brendan Shykora

I started at the Morning Star as a newspaper carrier at the age of 8. I went on to pursue a Master of Journalism at Carleton University and have been a journalist in Vernon since 2019.
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